


as long as you're with me

by GiuliaMed



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: 3x11, Canon Compliant, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Boyfriends, Established Relationship, Feelings, Fluff, Last day of school, M/M, Missing Scene, POV Niccolò Fares, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 19:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19179901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GiuliaMed/pseuds/GiuliaMed
Summary: On the last day of school Nico gets three kisses.





	as long as you're with me

By now, he's used to only seeing blurry silhouettes around him and the students' screams have turned into a dull ring in his ears, so he doesn't notice Giovanni jumping at him, shouting something unintelligible, before it's too late. Gio laughs in his ear with two hands on Niccolò's hair, and it rains powder before his eyes, turning his world into shades of pink.

"Stop!" Nico tries to yell, but it comes out as a laugh, and it's okay because they are play-fighting for a long minute, trying to rub the remaining paint on their hands onto each other's faces.

It's just another moment in his collection of today's wonderful moments, and then, as if they're miraculously drawn by the chance of causing trouble, Elia and Luca emerge from the crowd. They join them, and for some reason both are helping Gio, and Nico can't do anything because it's three against one. Hands are tugging at him and suddenly his field of vision flips, there's only dust and the blue sky and arms under his limbs, collectively trying to lift him in the air and catch him again. 

It's the second time they're doing this today, and he laughs and tries to stay balanced, holding onto the guys who are having the time of their lives, celebrating him. In all the chaos he catches Martino's eyes for a second, smiling at him from a distance, before everything tilts again and he's back on his feet.

His friends find a reason to start a new fight between the three of them and he leaves them to it, searching for someone who has a full packet of color, and spotting one of his class mates nearby. He walks over and asks for some, careful not to interrupt anything, and grabs a handful when the open packet is offered to him.

With one hand hidden behind his back he walks to the place where he saw Martino, who's joking around with some of the girls, but Marti spots him soon enough and walks to meet him halfway. His face is sprinkled with rainbow specks, and his curls a colorful mess, but his smile is blinding.

"You did it," Marti says when Nico reaches him, and his eyes seem far away, as if he's remembering something. Nico knows what he's talking about. 

"I did it," Nico repeats, smiling, and the proud look on Martino's face radiates such joy, makes his heart jump, that he has to pause for a moment.

Nico raises a hand to caress his cheek and Marti leans into it. A thought crosses his mind, a memory about the place where they almost kissed six months ago, a few meters from where they're standing now. It makes Nico almost forget his plan; it makes him want to give into the satisfaction the moment carries, the meaning it has in the grand scheme of things.

But he slides his hand to the back of Marti's neck and lifts the hem of his t-shirt, the other hand reaches around with lightning speed and then Marti's in a cloud made of red.

Nico takes off promptly, his smile turning into a mischievous grin as he walks backwards, and Marti shouts "Hey!", eyes wide in shock, ducking his head and lifting his shoulders as the remaining color falls down his back.

Nico laughs and knows this means war, and he can't wait, but Marti recovers quickly, a determined smile on his face and he reaches him with a few quick steps, crashes into him, kissing him in the middle of another color explosion.

 

-

 

"Thirty minutes?" Martino asks, lying on the bed, spread out over the cover.

Nico nods absently as he digs through his backpack, checking if he brought his additional pair of shoes with him. He definitely needs them, he concludes, after thinking about the dirty sneakers he left at the front door.

The curtains are drawn to block the bright afternoon sun and he can't see much in Marti's dim room.

Marti taps on his phone to set a timer, as promised, and leaves it on the bedside table, then turns to him, silently watching with a questioning look.

It takes a few moments until it occurs to Nico - he's been running around the apartment without a shirt for the last twenty minutes. He puts on the t-shirt he left on the edge of the bed, but even after that Marti's expression doesn't change, and Nico can't figure out what he wants. They stare at each other, Martino grinning now, while Nico's brain goes through a list of things he could have forgotten.

Marti lazily pats the spot beside him, after Nico just stands there for some time, thinking. "Come here." 

Nico smiles, abandons all thoughts about his backpack search and crawls onto the bed, settling close to face him. Marti looks so relaxed, lying here with an utterly peaceful expression, that Nico can't do anything else but calm his own breathing, trying to match him. It's the first time he comes to rest after all the excitement at school, he realizes.

"You ruined my shirt," Marti says, amusement lacing his voice.

"Me?" Nico dramatically points to himself. "Everyone was throwing paint. How is it my fault?"

"It got on the inside because of you." Marti raises his hand to comb through Nico's almost-dry curls, tucking them behind his ear.

"So?"

"Now the label is colored and I don't know how to wash it," he says with shining eyes, as if his mouth and eyes were having two completely different conversations.

His nonchalance makes Nico laugh. "What kind of backwards logic is that?"

Marti shrugs, like he thinks he's made a reasonable argument, but then his face softens again, and he snuggles into the pillow, dismissing his point at once.

The content look on his face is contagious, Nico can feel it too, soothing him from the inside, because somehow, against all odds, they ended up here.

"Are you wearing this later?" he wonders, stroking over the soft fabric of Marti's t-shirt, the one Nico knows he sleeps in.

"No, but I don't want to wear a wrinkled shirt later," Marti explains, his hand coming to rest on Nico's neck, like it always does, and Nico's never immune to the familiar feeling of comfort that comes with it.

He takes a quick glance behind him where a white shirt is thrown over the back of the desk chair.

There's still an unusual tension thrumming through his body and he slips his hand under the seam, fingers dragging over Marti's side and towards his back, pulling him closer.

"What are you doing?" Martino asks, a grin tugging at his lips, and Nico just blinks at him, because sometimes he can't believe how well Marti knows him, how he can sense his actions from the smallest indication.

How attentive he is, like Nico's always on his mind. The thought tightens something in Nico's chest.

He shifts a little, slides his leg between Marti's knees. "I haven't seen you all week." He nudges his nose against Marti's chin until he tilts it up, allowing him to plant a row of slow kisses from the underside of the chin down to the hollow of the throat, and he can feel a laugh forming under Marti's skin, vibrating, while Marti mentions something about _exams this week_.

"I missed you," Nico goes on, and it's not like they didn't talk on the phone every night until they fell asleep, but still. 

Marti giggles and Nico continues along his neck because he wants to hear it again.

He didn't plan for this to go anywhere, the shower washed away the adrenalin from the school fight, but there's still a buzz on his skin, like there's something left from that high. Something he wants to hold on to, the feeling that bloomed in him while jumping into clouds of paint without a worry in the world.

"I know you're just trying to convince me to stay here."

He can hear the smile in Marti's voice, and it's not like he doesn't want to go to the party, he knows he'll regret it if he doesn't. But he also just wants to be here.

"Is it working?" he asks, smiling.

Marti pulls his hips away, only a few centimeters, but enough to create a gap between them. Nico takes it as a yes.

"Wasn't it your idea to take a nap?" Marti asks and then doesn't let him answer but leans in to slide their lips together, slow and intense, contradicting his words, making Nico hum into it.

"I missed you," Nico repeats when he pulls away, because he means it.

It's a simple statement, but he doesn't want to go into the details of his week. How often he wished for the pressure to be over already, how much he looked forward to their daily phone calls, smiling at every encouraging text he got during the day, thinking about all the free time they had this summer.

"Missed you too," Marti says, gentle eyes wandering over Nico's face.

The last day of school always has this feeling to it he can't escape, especially today, when it's his last day of school ever. It's the accumulated memories that form into nostalgia, mixed with a thrill of anticipation.

Nobody knows what will come next, but everybody knows that things will change. He wants to push away the thought, but it has been creeping into his mind for weeks now, creating questions that go against his intention to live in the present, to enjoy every moment as it comes.

He wonders how Marti feels; for him it's just summer holidays. 

"How was your school year?" he asks instead.

Marti looks at him for a moment, pursing his lips as if he's thinking. 

"Absolutely nothing happened," he deadpans. But the corners of his mouth curl up, just enough to make Nico laugh, and as if to contradict his statement even more, he plants a quick kiss on Nico's lips.

"Too bad," Nico goes along with it.

"I know," Marti says, and the gleam in his eyes makes Nico's heart swell. It just adds to the whirlwind of emotions he's in today, and Marti doesn't need to say it, his fingers silently grazing the skin behind Nico's ear, and it hits Nico, because he doesn't need to hear it, he just _knows_ , and if he's not careful he might actually cry happy tears.

Nico wiggles down to press his forehead against Marti's chest and lets it rest there. The plan was to shower and take a nap before they meet up with the others, not get all emotional.

"So, how was yours?" Marti asks.

"What?"

"Your year. How was it?"

Nico draws a deep breath, takes some sort of dumb satisfaction from the fact that he used Marti's shampoo, and now they smell the same. 

He thinks back to the start of the school year, the first day of school, even the first week, and the memory seems so distant and foggy, like from another life.

His fingers twist the hem of Marti's t-shirt. "It had its ups and downs, I guess." It comes out more serious than he intended.

But it was true. When Nico walks down memory lane he can see it clearly. 

However, he can see the difference too. And what a difference a year can make. Some parts are cold and vague, some are filled with color and stand out. But the curve is evened out, the amplitude smaller than it used to be.

He feels Marti's fingers move through the hair behind his ear, the soft touch reminding him that he doesn't want to think about that today. Sometimes he's quick to fall into it, he doesn't even realize. 

Marti's chest rises up and down in a steady rhythm, slow breaths he can feel against his forehead, and it calms him in a way, anchors him in the present. Nico knows if he looked up he'd see a hint of worry around Martino's eyes, but he's silently waiting, giving Nico space to say whatever he needs to say. 

But he doesn't want to dwell on stale memories.

"Especially the beginning, with this one boy," he continues, now with a lighter tone. "It was _a whole thing_." 

They both chuckle at his explanation, and he's incredibly thankful for the peaceful atmosphere around them.

"Very memorable. And dramatic. If you ask me about the whole story. But honestly, I don't want to bore you with it," Nico teases.

He feels Marti's chest move in silent laughter and presses his face more into it.

It's strange, at first, opening up to somebody to the point where they know all parts of him. It's the best thing and simultaneously the worst. Giving out all this information, a weapon that can be turned at him any minute. It's strange until it's not, until he realized that Marti won't ever hold it against him. And the moment came quickly, it was made abundantly clear and proven time and time again. Even when he's hurt and raw on the inside, Marti knows how to handle it.

On this special day Nico feels the need to say something. He can't put his finger on it, like today is _different_. He's spend so much time remembering all the good things with his friends earlier, now his thoughts inevitably drift to the future.

It's like his emotions are balancing on a knife-edge, ready to tip over any second.

"But you know what?" Nico's voice becomes a whisper, like he's telling a secret. "I think I'm safe from the drama now. I think it was worth it."

There is a long silence, then Marti exhales slowly, deeply, fingers resting on the nape of his neck, and he feels Marti relax even more into him, burying his nose in Nico's hair and mumbling something, a breathy weight he can't make out. 

"Hm?" he hums in question.

Martino tilts his head a little, the words closer to Nico's ear now. "You're always safe with me."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Share your thoughts in a comment or talk to me [on tumblr!](https://annefraid.tumblr.com/post/185525475610/as-long-as-youre-with-me-three-kisses)
> 
> I just needed them happy <3


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